Judiciary in Action
by etraytin
Summary: Josh and Donna take their annoying intern to experience one of Washington's most enduring internship traditions.


Author's Note: Hey all! Today's is just a short and silly little fic for a weekend treat. Today's prompt is from Anonymous, who suggested "something about the Running of the Interns." If this fic piques your interest, I definitely suggest looking up more about it, because it's pretty fun. Hope you enjoy!

…...

"Jeez, it's freaking cold out here!" Ryan whined, rubbing his arms up and down his suit jacket. "Aren't you guys cold?"

"I'm from Connecticut," Josh told him dismissively.

"Hardy Wisconsin stock," Donna chimed in at nearly the same time. "It's not really that cold."

"You guys are nuts."

"And yet completely in charge of you, so shut up and learn. This is for your education and edification." Josh pulled out his Blackberry and proceeded to completely ignore the young man, now stamping his feet to try and restore the circulation.

"I'm standing on the steps of the Supreme Court with a bunch of reporters, freezing my ass off, not getting any work done, and this is supposed to be a learning experience?" Ryan whined.

"It's a nice change from you not getting any work done at the office," Donna reminded him with acerbic sweetness. "Who've you got?" she asked Josh.

"I got an insider tip for MSNBC," he muttered, still studying his Blackberry. "Should be any minute now. You?"

"Fox News," she replied with a secretive smirk.

"Donna!" Josh protested, his voice trending rapidly higher. "How dare you!"

"Hey, there's got to be some benefit to choosing employees based mainly on their physical characteristics," she shrugged. "Besides, they're nothing if not competitive."

"That's just wrong," he grumbled.

"If I die out here," Ryan told them both between shivers, "I need one of you to take my laptop and burn it immediately. This is very important."

"Don't be such a baby," Donna told him. "And there's no way in a million years I'm touching your laptop."

"I'll write you into my will," he promised.

"Not if you die in the next ten minutes," she pointed out. "And also I'm pretty sure that if I kill you, I can't inherit from you anyway."

"There are ways around that," Ryan assured her. She looked at him funny, but didn't comment. "So this is just campaign finance, right?" he asked. "Not much sexy about that."

"Except that we worked for three years to get campaign finance laws put into place, and now we get to hear if they're going to survive," Josh put in tersely. "Not to mention we get to hear how much of our democracy we're planning on letting the oligarchs and financial elite buy off us."

"Well yeah, but that's still not, you know, sexy-sexy." Ryan punctuated his analysis with a little hip-wiggle that had Donna taking another step away. "It's not abortion or gay rights or prayer in schools, the stuff that people get het up about. Why are we out here just to get the news five minutes early?"

"To punish you," Josh and Donna said together, then exchanged a wry look.

"That was weird," Ryan complained. "Hey, something's moving up there."

They all looked up toward the doors, where a gaggle of people had appeared, moving quickly. They rapidly spread out, a few taking the stairs at what looked like suicidally breakneck speeds, while the others trailed behind more cautiously. As they drew closer, the figures resolved themselves into young men and women Ryan's age, wearing suits and skirts with running shoes, each one clutching a paper and running hell-for-leather towards their news agencies.

"Go, go, go!" Donna cheered enthusiastically, along with much of the assembled crowd.

"Ah, the running of the interns," Josh sighed nostalgically. "Kinda like the swallows returning to Capistrano, but with more chance that somebody's going to snap an ankle."

"Look, look!" Donna exclaimed, grabbing Josh's arm. "The first one's there... it's Fox! Woo-hoo, Fox News, I win!"

"That's it," Josh declared, glaring at Donna. "I'm washing your mouth out with soap."

"Whoa, no funny business in front of the intern, guys," Ryan begged.

"Shut up. Go earn your keep," Josh ordered. "Listen to the on-airs, see what the ruling actually was. Those interns can run a four minute mile, you should be able to do that much."

Ryan slunk off, grumbling. "I can't believe you bet on Fox," Josh groused again to Donna.

"I'm a woman of limited means, Josh," Donna told him with great severity. "I have to be ruthless."

He sighed. "It's like I barely even know you."

She gave him a friendly punch in the arm. "Give me a raise and maybe I can turn from my life of sin."

"Maybe you just need to pick better sins," he retorted, leaning in a little bit closer to her. She had no response to that, except to moisten her lips with the very tip of her tongue. They stared at each other for a frozen moment before Ryan raced back up to them, gasping.

"The law held up," he reported breathlessly, either unaware of or ignoring the moment he'd interrupted. "Five to four, the ban on unlimited soft money doesn't implicate free speech."

"Yes!" Josh shouted, punching a fist into the air. "Victory is ours! We have slain one head of the hydra and live to fight another day!" He swept Donna into a hug, which she returned enthusiastically. "This calls for a celebratory lunch. Call CJ and Toby, tell them to get their asses to Vanucci's like the conquering heroes they are. You can come too," he told Ryan, momentarily magnanimous in victory.

"Anywhere, as long as there's heat," Ryan agreed fervently.

"Quit your bellyaching or we'll make you run ahead for reservations," Donna teased.

"That's it, you're definitely out of my will." Ryan pouted the rest of the way to the restaurant.


End file.
